Multiple fastener



Jan. 26 1926.

J. E. PERRAULT MULTI PLE FASTENER Filed July 2, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 26 ,'19z6.v

, 1 1,571,095 J. E. PERRAULT MULTIPLE FASTENER Filed July 2, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ma *i/ gam, ma, my l (TIM nl' Patented Jan. 2e, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. PERRAULT, OF WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HOOD RUB- BER COMPANY, OF WATER/TOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS.

MULTIPLE FASTENER.

To all whom z't may concern.'

Be it known that I, Josnrn E. PERRAULT, a citizen of the United States, and a residcnt of I'Vatertown, in the county of Middle- 6 sex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l\fIultiple'Fasteners, of which the following l is a. specification.

The said invention relates to fasteners of the type in which two series of cooperating clasp members are successively engaged or released by the progressive movement of a slide member.

The invention thus aims to provide a fastener of this type which will be of extreme llexibility, which may be easily operated, and in which separation of the interengaged l parts will be effectively prevented, irrespective of the amount of liexing of the seam or closure.

The invention further aims to provide a construct-ion which may be economically manufactured and assembled.

lVith these and other 'objects in View the l5 invention includes the novel features of construction and arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and delined by the appended claims.

In order that the invention may be better understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in Which:-

Figure 1 is a plan view showing a pair of stringere with my improved fasteners applied thereto.

Fig. 1a` is a section through the slider on line 1-1 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 isa section on line'2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the male members before application toV the Stringer. l

Fic-x 4 is a side elevation of the same in place noon a Stringer (shown in section), the dotted lines indicating the clamped position.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the male element.

Fig. is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showinfr orc of the female elements.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but sli-owing the female element.

Fig. 8 is a plan of the same.

Fig. 20 is a view of a modified form of arrow hea-d for the male member.

Referring by reference characters to this drawing, and first to Fig. 1 thereof, the vnumerals 1, 1, etc., designate the male members, and 2, 2, etc., the female elements,

ywhich are shown in said figure in place upcn the st-ringers 3 hereinafter more fully described.

Each male element as shown in detail in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, comprises a body and an arrow-shaped head l", having relatively sharply inclined frontrfaces 1 and rear reversely inclined shoulders 1, the front faces forming the leading-in parts and the rear shoulders the retaining parts. The body portion is provided with a transverse substantially cylindrical passage therethrough, indicated at 16, adapted to receive the bead of the Stringer, the rear face being provided with an open slot leading to said cylindrical recess, as indicated at 1f. The member is made of a malleable metal with the edges of the Stringer receiving slot 1t separated in the manufacture, and after a plurality of these have been threaded upon the Stringer, as shown in Fig. 7, the member is subjected to compression to force the bifurcated body portion into cooperating engagement with the Stringer` as shown in dotted lines in Fig., S. This Stringer preferably comprises a strip of flexible material 3a conveniently of woven fabric coated with an adhesive, such vfor example as rubberized stock Where the fastener strip is incorporated in a shoe upper, such strip of material being folded parts together.

around a bea-d forming core 3b of flexible but relatively inextensible material, such for example as a cord.

i The stringer for shoe construction may be conveniently made of bias cut stock to enable it to be properly incorporated in the slice and to impart flexibility', an d further flexibility may be secured by providing substantially V-shaped notches in the edges of the fabric, as indicated at 3b.

Vhen a series of these elements are threaded upon the stringer in. properly spaced relation, as shown in Fig. 1, and subjected to compression, they not only tightly clamp the stringer, but imbed themselves therein, such imbeddingaction being indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, in which view the clotting is exaggerated to show the imbedding action, the construction and application being such that the imbedding takes place mostly in the bead to avoid cutting the fabric. This iinbedding anchors the elements in position along the stringers.

Before the element is compressed upon the Stringer, its rear faces 1h liel in one and the same plane so that after it is compressed upon the stringer, said rear faces are inclined inwardly, or present a sort of dovetailed effect, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 4, to cooperate with the corresponding inclined faces la of the slide 4 (Fig. 2), as I have found that this arrangement produces a better guiding action between the fastener members and the slider.

Each female member 2 comprises an approximately rectangular block or member having its rear portion constructed similar to the. rear end of the male member for application to, and clamping upon` the Stringer, as will be obvious from the drawings. The forward end of the female meinber is made of approximately wedge shape, or in other words, is provided with sharply inclined leading-in edges 2, and is recessed adjacent its forward end to receive the corresponding projecting portion of the cooperating arrow head of the male member. For convenience in manufacture, the recess is preferably formed in the shape of an opening 2b extending clear through the member. The recesses extend into the inclined portions and with thel male and female members properly spaced it will be apparent from Fig. l that the arrow head of each male member engages the eyes of each of the adjacent or juxtaposed female members, and with the stringers parallel, as shown at the left of Fig. 1, it will be observed that the rear shoulders of the arrow heads engage behind the forward or outer walls of the recesses and securely lock the By reason of the wedge shape of both the arrowheads and the ends of the female members, the parts are readily brought together by the action of the slider, as indicated by the dotted lines on the right of Fig. l, and separation is likewise facilitated by the inclusion of the rear shoulders of the arrow heads.

The slider comprises a sheet metal casing having internal diverging guides or channels which engage the male and female members respectively, so that when the slide 4 is moved to the right (by means such as pivoted handle member 29, Fig. l), the male and female members are brought successively into interlocking engagement, whercas when the slider is moved to the left, Fig. l, disengagement is effected.

The top and bottom walls 4b of the slider are preferably parallel to each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and the outer face portions lX and 2X of the male and female members are parallel to each other and it the internal faces of the slider walls 4" with an easy sliding fit, while the faces ly and 2" are inachined towards each other, which facilitates the entrance of the members into the slider.

The two stringers may be connected at the closed end (left, Fig. l), which would correspond to the bottom of the shoe opening where the fastener is used in connection with a shoe upper, by any suitable means, preferably a pronged sheet metal member 5, Fig. .15, having prongs 5 adapted to penctrate the fabric adjacent the beaded edge of the slringer and bel clinched over the under side of the bead, which connecting member would serve as a stop to limit the movement of the slide in that direction. The connecting member is preferably stamped up into trough shape, as shown in Fig. l5.

Limit of movement in the other direction may be secured by cup shaped sheet metal stop members (3 having riveted prongs 6 (Fig. 17) adapted to pass through the Stringer and be clamped over on the under side thereof, as shown in Fig. 1T.

Supplemental insertiblc and adjustable stop means may be provided in the shape of a member 7 insertible inthe eyes of two ad jacent female members whereby a. stop meinbei' inay be placed between any two female members by flexing the stringer to spread its wedge-shaped ends sufiiciently apart. The stop member indicated at 7, Fig. l, is provided as shown with two cylindrical ends fitting the respective recesses of the adjacent female members and with an intermediate fiange v7a, which holds thel stop member spaced against displacement when the paris are in normal position. As the slide moves to the right it will readily be seen that when the last male member aliens with the flange a t will be prevented thereby from entering the spaceJ between the two female inembers and this will check the movement of the slider to the right. Instead of having the flange '.78 centrally arranged of the stop nieinber, it may be arranged at one end, as indicated at 7", Fig. 19, so that the balance of the body of the stop member will be held entirely within the recess of one of the female members. Then when the. vvearer of shoes equipped with stops G Wishes to lim1t the outward movement (to theJ right, Fig. 1) before the stops 6 are ri'zaclied, according to the style of liapping7 in vogue, itis only necessary to insert a supplemental stop anywhere desired in the train by swinging one of the fastener members aside. the sl op members 6 might be omitted if desired and a supplemental stop member 7 relied on for the stopping action.

While I have shown in the figures above described the inclinedl or Wedge-shaped surfaces of the. male and female members as substantially plane, it will be obvious that these surfaces may be modified in various respects. For example, the male member ma;r have its outer faces formed on convex curves,- as 'indicated at 1, Fig. 9, and the female member may have correspondingly curved faces, as indicated at 2i, Fig. 12.

yFurthermore the said fates'of the male member could be made on a convex curve in a direction at right angles to that shown in Fig. Si, as indicated at l in Fig. 10, and the female member provided with corresponding concaved faces, as indicated at 2 in Fig. 13.

While it is desi able in many `types of articles that the fasteners` be relatively small and a large number of them provided for a given length of closure opening, I have found that my construction is such that the male and female fasteners respectively may be made very wide, as indicated at 1X and fx, Figs. 1.1 and 14 respectively, without dctraeting from the appearance of the article or interfering with the ease of operation thereof or the security of the fastening, this construction very much reducing the cost.

It ivill be noticed that the lead-in faces 1"- of the male members are at an acute angle to each other or relatively sharply inclined, while, the retaining faces are at an obtuse anale to each other or less sharply inclined. This in connection with the wedge shaped and recessed female members makes a very smooth working multiple fastener.

It' desired, the edges of the arrow head of the male, member may be beveled, as shown in Fig. Q0.

II avi ng thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A fastenercomprising' clasp members arranged iii-cooperating series, the members of one series being provided With recesses and inclined guides leading thereto, and the members of the other series having converging sides for slidingly engaging said guides and having angularly disposed shoulders engageable in the recesses of adjacent members of the first namedq series.

Of course.

2. A fastener comprising clasp members arranged in cooperating series, the members of one series being provided with recesses and diverging side faces forming inclined guides leading to said recesses, and the members of the other series being provided with tapered heads to slidingly cooperate'ivith said guide faces. and abrupt shoulders for engaging the Walls of the recesses.

3. A fastener conn'irising clasp members arranged in cooperating series, the members of one series being provided with recesses and diverging side faces formingI inclined guides leading to said recesses, and the members of the other series being provided with wedge-shaped heads Ito slidingly engage said guide faces, and having rear shoulders which meet the faces of the Wedge-shaped heads at relatively sharp angles.

4. A fastener comprising clasp members arranged in cooperating series, the members of one series beingl provided with recesses and inclined guides leading thereto, and the members of the other series having converging sides for slidingly engaging said gliides and having angularly disposed shoulders engageable in the recesses of adjacent members of the first named series` said members of the second series having flat top and bottom faces.

5. A fastener comprising clasp members arranged in cooperating series, each of said fasteners having the rear portion of its top and lbottom faces-parallel and the front portions of said faces inclined towards each other, in combination With a slide member having parallel faces cooperating with the parallel faces of said members.

6. The combination with a. multiple fasti i ener comprising fabric strlngers having beaded edges, attached clasp members, and a cooperating slider, of a stop member having prongs penetrating the fabric and bent over to embrace the bead.

7. In a multiple fastener a pair of fabric stringers having beaded edges and cooperating clasp members, and a sto member comprising a hollow sheet metal body having fabric penetrating and bead engaging prongs projecting from the edges thereof.

8. In a multiple fastener a pair of fabric stringcrs having :beaded edges and cooperating clasp members, a slide cooperating with said fasteners` a permanent stop carried by one of said stringers for limiting the closing movement of the slide, and an attachable and detachable stop for arresting the movement of the slide before reaching said permanent stop.

9. A fastener comprisingv clasp members arranged in adjacent cooperating series, the members of one series being provided with eyes, and the members of the other series being provided with substantially arrowshaped heads, each of which is engageable in the eyes of adjacent members of the rst named series, a slide cooperating with said members, and a stop member insertible in the eyes of a pair of adjacent members with means for retaining it therein.

l0. A fastener comprising clasp members arranged in adjacent cooperating series, the members of one series being provided with eyes, and the members of the other series being provided with substantially arrow-shaped heads, each of which is engageable in the eyes of adjacent members of the first named series, a slide cooperating with said members, and a stop member insertible in the eyes of a pair of adjacent members, said stop member having an abutment JOSEPH E. PERRAULT. 

